That’s Hollywood For You

I’ll bet Sophia Loren is now regarded as a Hollywood actress in Italy . . . I can’t imagine Tony Perkins cooking a meal, but . . . he does . . . Nobody sings a torch song like Frank Sinatra . . . Nobody listens to a torch song like Ava Gardner . . . My idea of class in an actress is Gene Tierney. I wish she’d return to Hollywood and pictures As a child, two things annoyed Kim Novak: 1. Having to go to bed early. 2. Having to get out of bed early . . . Burt Lancaster knew “The Sweet Smell of Success” with other pictures . . . I’m for a TV spectacular in which Wyatt Earp, Matt Dillon, Hopalong Cassidy and all the other western heroes shoot it out amongst themselves . . . Call me a liar, if Marlon Brando doesn’t win the Oscar for his performance in “Sayonara.” . . . I don’t get Mel Ferrer and Jose Ferrer confused, any more than I do their wives, Audrey Hepburn and Rosemary Clooney . . . Do you realize that the movie colony is without a social leader? But don’t let it bother you. . . Sal Mineo, who should know, claims the advantage of buying a rock ’n’ roll record is that when it’s worn out you can’t tell the difference.

Yul Brynner believes that big success comes after many small failures . . . Tommy Sands believes differently . . . Whenever I see Natalie Wood or Debra Paget going to the movies alone, I wonder what gives . . . There isn’t a better comedienne and singer of sly songs than Pearl Bailey . . . Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” concerns itself with “the lost generation.” How about a novel, Ernest, about today’s crowd—“the get-lost generation?” . . . Taking the words from Anita Ekberg: “In love, nothing is as eloquent as mutual silence.” I understand the thunder of silence.

Doesn’t Bob Mitchum always look as if he needs a haircut? . . . Whenever you see a person turn on a radio in a movie, you can give odds that you’re going to hear an important story point . . . And while you’re betting, place a wager that of all the . . . new young actors, John Cassavetes is the greatest . . . Lana Turner is a watcher, not a doer, when it comes to outdoor sports . . . My idea of a good time is Kim Stanley. She fascinates me—acting, talking, or merely sitting . . . When movie gangsters reform, they play FBI men or private detectives . . . I don’t believe the movie “War and Peace” tempted anyone to buy the book . . . Jean Simmons is a good listener, among her other charms . . . I’m still campaigning for a musical version of “The Front Page,” with Frank Sinatra as Hildy Johnson and Bing Crosby as Walter Burns . . . “The goal of any really decent movie actor is the stage.” Know who I’m quoting? None other than Spencer Tracy . . . It’s really a mixed-up world. Elvis Presley’s hair is longer than Doris Day’s . . . I’d like to say that I’m weary, very weary, of the word teenage . . . Victor Mature believes that the professional comedian is having a tough time on TV, because old movies are much funnier without even trying.

Marilyn looks good with cold cream on her face . . . I have yet to see E. G. Marshall or Jack Warden give a bad performance . . . The trouble with most characters is that they haven’t any character . . . To me, “My Time of Day,” from “Guys and Dolls,” is the unofficial Broadway anthem . . . I defy you to name a blonde who is really a blonde! . . . I don’t mean Tab Hunter, I mean an actress . . . At last the Actors Studio gets its name in lights. Susan Strasberg becomes a movie star in “Stage Struck.” . . . Pat Boone insists there’s no feud between him and Elvis. “We don’t know each other well enough to quarrel,” said the singer with the white shoes From our good friend Mike Curtiz: “I admit there are other things besides money, but it takes money to buy them.”

Whenever I see a photo of Liz Taylor, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, I think they’re a singing group. Say, The Four Merrymakers . . . Mamie Van Doren claims she became an actress because she wanted to be somebody; wanted to be proud of herself . . . Janet Leigh’s a favorite with me . . . I heard a workman on the set of “South Pacific” say to another: “This looks like it could be a good picture, but why are they using all that old music?”

Arthur Loew Jr., with girlfriend Joan Collins, at the preview of “Stage Struck” to watch girlfriend Susan Strasberg . . . Memo to Susan: Your performance as Eva Lovelace, who becomes a stage star, makes you a full-fledged movie star! . . . And speaking of Susans, have you noticed the trend in actresses named Susan? There’s Susan Hayward and Susan Cabot and Susan Strasberg and Susan Harrison and Susan Kohner, and there’s Susan Oliver coming up with a big movie and plenty of dates. And, to make things more complicated, what did Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Marty Milner and the others call Susan Harrison in, “The Sweet Smell of Success”? Susie! That’s Hollywood For You!

—BY SIDNEY SKOLSKY

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1957